The present invention relates to a heat-absorbing/heating device and a supporting device therefor, and more particularly to a heat-absorbing/heating device which can work at high efficiency and a supporting device corresponding thereto.
Energy-saving has become a very important subject of scientific research in modern life. Therefore, how to increase thermal efficiency when heating liquid, such as water, or food contained in a container appears to be an important problem which needs to be immediately solved.
In U.S. Pat. No. 1,390,783, Carl Hearing disclosures a cooking utensil provided with a large number of small lugs to distribute over substantially the entire extent of the bottom of the cooking utensil for increasing thermal efficiency. However, such cooking utensil can hardly be placed on and heated by any heating device, for example, a gas oven, due to the particular shape of the long lugs. Moreover the lugs are so long that hot burning gas is apt to disperse from the clearances between these long lugs.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,014,931, William discloses a cooking utensil having a series of radial ribs formed on the bottom thereof and extending up the sides and integral therewith for helping retain the heat to the bottom surface. Such utensil must be used with a stove having a deep burner opening, or on a coal stove where the cover has been removed and the utensil is inserted through the top to get it nearer the fire.
As a consequence, the radial ribs can only retain the heat to the bottom of the utensil without high efficiency heat-absorbing function, and furthermore, such cooking utensil is limited to be used with a stove so that wide application thereof is impossible.
While U.S. Pat. No. 2,554,412, James discloses a cooking utensil provided with depending ribs serving to reinforce the bottom of the cooking utensil and increase the heat-absorbing area. However, such depending ribs are spaced from one another by a long distance so that the heat-absorbing area can be only slightly increased. Moreover, the hot burning gas is easy to escape from the room between these ribs, and such cooking utensil can not be placed stably on a heating device, such as a gas oven, due to the projecting ribs.
The above-mentioned three types of cooking utensils all can only work at low efficiency and hardly cooperate with general gas ovens or other heating devices, and a cooking utensil which can work at high efficiency and a specific supporting device enabling the cooking utensil to be widely used with all kinds of gas ovens or other heating devices are required to save energy and consequently reduce exhausted gas to lower the extend of air pollution.
It is therefore tried by the applicant to develop a heat-absorbing/heating device which can work at high efficiency and a supporting device therefor.